Dem language

Dem (Lem, Ndem) is a divergent Papuan language of West New Guinea. Although Palmer (2018) leaves it unclassified, it was tentatively included in the Trans–New Guinea family in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005), and Timothy Usher ties it most closely to Amung.

The only pronouns which have been recorded are 1sg ''nau'', 2sg ''aŋ'', and 1pl ''yu''.

Vocabulary

The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:

:

Further reading

;Word lists
*de Bruijn, J. V. 1941. ''Verslag van een Tocht naar Beura, het Stroomgebied van de Beurong en Lelop, het Stroomgebiet van de Ielorong in Centraal Nieuw Guinea door den Controleur der Wisselmeren van 9 Juni 1941 tot 7 Augustus 1941'' eport of a Survey Trip to Beura, the Beurong and Lelop Watersheds, the Ielorong Watershed in Central New Guinea by the Wissel Lakes Administrator the 9th of June. 1941 to the 7th of August 1941 Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Ministerie van Koloniën: Kantoor Bevolkingszaken Nieuw-Guinea te Hollandia: Rapportenarchief, 1950–1962, nummer toegang 2.10.25, inventarisnummer 256.
*Galis, Klaas Wilhelm. 1955. Talen en dialecten van Nederlands Nieuw-Guinea anguages and dialects of Netherlands New Guinea ''Tijdschrift Nieuw-Guinea'' 16: 109–118, 134–145, 161–178.
*Larson, Gordon F. 1977. Reclassification of some Irian Jaya Highlands language families: A lexicostatistical cross-family subclassification with historical implications. ''Irian'' 6(2): 3–40.
*Le Roux, C. C. F. M. 1950. ''De Bergpapoea’s van Nieuw-Guinea en hun Woongebied he Mountain Papuans of New Guinea and their Habitat', Vol 2. Leiden: E. J. Brill. (pages 852–862, 892–895)
*Voorhoeve, Clemens L. 1975. ''Languages of Irian Jaya, Checklist: Preliminary Classification, Language Maps, Wordlists''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

References

Amung–Dem languages
Languages of western New Guinea

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